Great Lakes: IRIN Update No.78, 01/14/97

IRIN Emergency Update No.78 on the Great Lakes (Tuesday
14 January 1997)

UNHCR in Burundi has confirmed the massacre by the army
of some 120 refugees who had returned from Tanzania,
AFP reported. UNHCR chief in Bujumbura Hitoshi Mise
said 122 returnees had been killed. "It's a special
and particular case because (the refugees) were expelled
by the Tanzanian authorities because of their involvement
in violent clashes in which eight people were killed
at the (Kitali) refugee camp," AFP quoted Mise
as saying. In-fighting reportedly broke out earlier
at the Kitali camp between Burundian Hutu extremists
from the Palipehutu party and the National Council
for the Defence of Democracy (CNDD). Burundian soldiers
were said to have opened fire on Friday after panic
broke out when 126 refugees were handed over by the
Tanzanian authorities to the Kobero military post,
near the northeast Burundian town of Muyinga, and then
tried to escape. Mise said one of his colleagues who
was on the spot described how a woman among the refugees
had thrown a grenade towards the Burundian soldiers,
although its pin was not pulled out. The matter, he
added, was "very complex".

Tanzania however today denied it had expelled the refugees.
Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Emmanuel Mwambulukutu
said as far as he knew Tanzania had never expelled
Burundian refugees from its territory. "We don't
have a policy of expelling refugees," he said,
according to AFP. "The only refugees we have returned
home are those who came from Rwanda. This we did after
being assured of the restoration of peace and stability
in that country." The number of Burundians entering
Tanzania continued to rise, he said, and Tanzania had
established two new camps to accommodate them.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday expressed
shock over the killings in Burundi and called for an
end to the "cycle of violence" in the country.
He urged the authorities "to ensure that the rule
of law is scrupulously followed and to prevent further
massacres by the army". There was a "pressing
need" for an immediate ceasefire between the army
and Hutu rebels, and for peace talks, he added.

Security remains a serious problem in northwest Rwanda.
Employees of the UN Human Rights Field Operation in
Rwanda (HRFOR) were attacked in Gisenyi yesterday afternoon
by an unidentified individual using hand grenades.
As a result, UN security officials have suspended all
travel by UN personnel to the prefecture as well as
stopping UN human rights activities in Gisenyi.

In further security incidents, three people were killed
and three more wounded when about 60 armed men attacked
a hospital in the northwest Rwandan town of Kabaya
over the weekend, aid workers said yesterday. According
to local people, the assailants were Hutus who had
infiltrated from Zaire or from nearby forests and looted
the hospital's pharmacy. Two MSF surgeons who were
at the hospital were threatened, AFP said. Unconfirmed
reports stated that the attackers also tried to storm
the local jail where a number of genocide suspects
are imprisoned. Rwandan radio yesterday reported the
deaths of three people who were murdered in Nyakabande
sector of Kigali urban prefecture. Four suspects had
been detained following the murders in which the victims
were blindfolded and killed using blunt weapons. Violence
in Cyangugu prefecture resulted in a security meeting
over the weekend convened by the prefect Faustin Munyakabera
at Nyakabuye. The meeting noted in particular that
five "infiltrators" were killed nine days
ago during clashes with the security forces in the
area. Residents were warned against collaboration with
infiltrators, one of whom was present at the meeting.
According to Rwandan radio, he said his group of 23
men entered Rwanda from Bukavu last October but only
10 of them had escaped death or captivity.

Tension is particularly high in communes where genocide
survivors are in the minority, such as Kigali Rural
prefecture. UNHCR reports that in Kanzenze, the 10,713
registered returnees heavily outnumber the local population
which has led to a reluctance by genocide survivors
to denounce suspects for fear of reprisals. UN sources
said local authorities believe virtually all the male
returnees in Kanzenze took part to some extent in the
genocide and most female returnees participated in
looting properties. However, only 33 people have been
arrested.

An alleged ringleader of the 1994 genocide, former politician
Froduald Karamira, went on trial in Kigali today, but
the hearing was immediately adjourned for two weeks
to give the defence more time to prepare its case.
The hearing began as Amnesty International again questioned
the fairness of the trials in Rwanda. "In a climate
of bitterness and suspicion, there is a risk that those
accused of genocide will be considered guilty unless
proven innocent," Amnesty said in a statement
released today. It said the the trials "should
conform to international standards of fairness including
ensuring that the defendants have access to the court
file and adequate time to prepare for their defence,
are assisted by legal counsel, including foreign lawyers,
and are allowed to call witnesses in their defence".

Zairean rebel leader Laurent Kabila claimed that the
Bukavu-Shabunda-Kindu axis had recently been "infiltrated"
by Zairean and former Rwandan (ex-FAR) soldiers, leading
to "low-level fighting" with the rebel Alliance
of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire
(ADFL). Rebel Radio of the People, which broadcasts
from Bukavu, yesterday said the Zairean/ex-FAR troops
were "silenced and defeated". The radio also
pointed out that the "massive counter-offensive"
awaited in eastern Zaire had not yet taken place, adding
that Kabila had predicted that in the "post-Mobutu
period", the ADFL would come to power "either
via negotiations or through direct military action".

At least three people were killed by Interahamwe members
who attacked a village in the Goma area under ADFL
control last week, Reuters reported, quoting a rebel
officer. "The village was attacked yesterday and
again this morning (Friday) which was when the people
were killed," said the officer who commands the
checkpoint at Mushaki village. He added that the Interahamwe
were located in nearby hills. AFP today cited local
residents as saying hundreds of rebels had been combing
the dense Virunga forests near Goma in a bid to flush
out Zairean troops and Interahamwe. UN and NGO agencies
reported an unusually high number of young men at the
Tingi-Tingi camp near Lubutu and UN sources said they
could be ex-FAR and Interahamwe who were using force
to control the population. The sources said that since
ADFL troops took Walikale on 25 December, refugees
have been flowing out of the forest.

Concern has been expressed by humanitarian aid workers
in the Lubutu area that food aid distributions in Tingi-Tingi
and Amisi camps are not always reaching the intended
beneficiaries. As in the Kivu camps in 1994, the most
expedient way to distribute food, given staffing constraints,
the large refugee population and security concerns,
is to utilise existing camp structures, which parallel
the Rwandan administrative structure. Concern has been
raised that the distribution of food through the refugee
leaders has led to inequitable food distributions with
vulnerable groups being hardest hit. NGOs, aware of
the problem, are trying to move away from prefect leaders
to a distribution through commune and eventually cell
leaders. According to UNHCR, food distribution monitoring
has also been increased. WFP said it was increasing
food movements to Tingi-Tingi and Amisi to 160 mt a
week by road and 25 mt a day by air.

A report by UNICEF and MSF last week indicated elevated
child mortality rates in refugee camps near Lubutu.
Estimates from the cemetery and MSF feeding centres
indicate a death rate of 20 people per day, most of
them children under five. A recent UNICEF mission clarified
that while the death rate among vulnerable groups was
extremely high, the general refugee population was
in relatively good health. They have been able to supplement
their food needs by gathering wild plants.

The refugee population in Shabunda has not received
food aid since the withdrawal of ICRC expatriate workers
on 26 December. The UNHCR team in Kisangani has conducted
two recent missions to the area and a third is planned
for today. Because of time constraints and weather
conditions, only the Burundian refugees closest to
the airport have been visited to date. An intial assessment
indicated that despite the lack of food aid the population
visited seemed in relatively good condition. Some refugees
in Shabunda have been able to find work in local gold
mines. However, humanitarian sources caution that not
all of the refugee encampments have been contacted
and health conditions in the remaining camps may vary
significantly.

A former Tanzanian cabinet minister was gunned down
at his home outside Dar es Salaam over the weekend,
police said yesterday. Nicas Mahinda, a member of parliament
and former natural resources and tourism minister,
was showered with bullets on Sunday by a gang of about
30 thugs who jumped over the fence of his compound.
Twenty-five people have been arrested in connection
with the incident.

Nairobi, 14 January 1997, 15:00 gmt [ENDS]

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